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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26944120">King Scarlemagne and Princess Kipo</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pauliestorylover/pseuds/Pauliestorylover'>Pauliestorylover</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In Another World (Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adopted Sibling Relationship, BAMF Kipo Oak, Brother-Sister Relationships, Contrary to what characters think, Dictatorship &amp; Discrimination is Wrong, Gen, Scarlemagne | Hugo &amp; Questionable Decisions, Scarlemagne | Hugo Kidnaps Kipo Oak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:27:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,526</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26944120</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pauliestorylover/pseuds/Pauliestorylover</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hugo had wanted to destroy the baby, to make Lio experience the same rage and grief he was experiencing. But as he stared at Kipo’s cheerful face, he found he couldn’t do it.  </p><p><i>Lio would just abandon Kipo when he got tired of his latest experiment</i>, Hugo decided. As a loving elder brother, it was Hugo’s duty to raise his sister.</p><p> </p><p>  <i>In which <strike>Hugo</strike> Scarlemagne raises Kipo, and with a mega jaguar by his side, the world has more reason to fear him than ever.</i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Benson &amp; Kipo Oak, Kipo Oak &amp; Scarlemagne | Hugo, Kipo Oak &amp; Wolf, Mandu &amp; Kipo Oak, Newton Wolves &amp; Kipo Oak</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In Another World (Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1964947</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>258</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Gone (Prologue Part 1)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">


        <li>
            Inspired by

            <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24713515">Princess of Aurum</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bearflame/pseuds/Bearflame">Bearflame</a>.
        </li>

    </ul><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Season 3 comes out tmr!!! *screams*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lio hadn’t wanted to flinch away. He really hadn’t. But when Hugo lunged at Kipo, all he could see was a crazed, blood-thirsty animal. In his memory, the lion that had bit off Dr Eska’s hand in the labs had the same expression on its face.</p><p> </p><p>“No, you can’t hold her, ” Lio heard himself say, before his brain caught up and yelled that Hugo was his son, not some caged animal. He had just treated Hugo like Emilia did. <em>He had just treated Hugo like Emilia did!</em> His eyes widening, he opened his mouth to apologize.</p><p> </p><p>But the damage was already done.</p><p> </p><p>Hugo snarled, flicking his arm at Lio’s face. <em>He wouldn’t—he wouldn’t— </em>Lio’s vision blackened.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>When Lio woke up, he was alone. His son and daughter were gone.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>What have I done?</em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I was going to merge chapter 1 and 2, but it looked really weird. I promise future chapters won't be so short. Please stick around; the next chapter will be out in a day or two.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Sister (Prologue Part 2)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hugo didn’t feel particularly bad about using his pheromones on <strike>his dad</strike> Lio. Lio had made Hugo that way; it was only natural that he would get a taste of what he had created.</p><p> </p><p>Hugo glanced at Lio’s frozen body, his hands tugging Kipo protectively to his chest. The baby was bawling, apparently unaffected by Hugo’s pheromones. She swatted at Lio’s face with her clawed arm, and the lack of reaction only made her cries louder.</p><p> </p><p>Hugo felt angry just looking at them. Kipo, draped in <em>his </em>baby blanket, was living proof of how Lio and Song had replaced him. A mandrill son was obviously not enough, so of course they had to create a human daughter. They had to give Kipo <em>his </em>blanket too, just to rub it in. The promise to escape together was a lie too—Hugo didn’t know why he had believed it. At the first chance he had, Lio chose Kipo over Hugo and left him behind. Their promises, their love, everything the three of them had shared were a lie. Hugo was only ever a placeholder to <strike>Dad and Mum</strike> Lio and Song.</p><p> </p><p>Hugo ordered Lio to hand the baby over to him. Kipo didn’t seem happy about that. She screamed and tried to grab onto her father, but strangely enough, once Hugo held her in his arms, Kipo immediately quieted down. Giggling, she patted his face with her paw.</p><p> </p><p>How could she…how could she be <em>happy </em>to see him? People either feared him—even Lio did, just now—or looked down on him—an image of Dr Emilia came unbidden to his mind. How could this child—his sister—see him as someone to be loved? <em><strike>Dad and Mum used to look at him the same way, but Mum was gone and Dad feared him now. </strike></em></p><p>
  
</p><p>Hugo’s anger melted away. What had he wanted to do with Kipo anyway? He vaguely remembered a plan to destroy the baby, to materialize his anger of the world, to make Lio experience the same rage and grief he was experiencing.</p><p> </p><p>But…but…how could he do that? Hugo studied Kipo’s face. She bore no resemblance to Lio or Song. Magenta eyes stared back at him, full of joy and wonder of the world. Hugo had to…he had to…protect her.</p><p> </p><p>He should probably hand Kipo back to Lio—he was going to wake up at any moment. But…wouldn’t Lio just abandon her the way he had abandoned Hugo? Hugo tried to tell himself that Lio would care more about his human daughter than Hugo, a science experiment. Except…Hugo’s eyes caught on the paw Kipo was waving around energetically. Wasn’t Kipo a science experiment too? She was a half-human-half-mute hybrid, bred to maintain peace on the surface world the same way Hugo was created to take away mutekind’s intelligence. Wouldn’t Lio get rid of her once he grew tired of her too, only to move on to his next experiment?</p><p> </p><p>Hugo couldn’t—wouldn’t—risk that. He had to protect his sister. That meant…Hugo would raise Kipo. He would protect her, and give her the love they were both owed.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Upon returning to the foyer, Hugo flicked his sweat into the leader’s face. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted.</p><p> </p><p>One of his teammates made a face, not seeming to notice her leader’s frozen state. Hugo didn’t bother to remember her name. “Eww, Hugo, why did you bring a <em>human </em>back?”</p><p> </p><p>Hugo scowled, “Kipo is a jaguar, not a human. She is my sister, and you will treat her with respect. Also, my name is not Hugo anymore. It’s…” He glanced into the mirror and was greeted by the prominent scar on his face, “Scarlemagne. You are my subjects now.”</p><p> </p><p>The one who had spoken laughed, “Don’t be ridiculous, <em>Hugo</em>.”</p><p> </p><p><strike>Hugo </strike>Scarlemagne glared at her. He had been willing to forgive her for her slight earlier, but she had just spat at his mercy in the face. A king couldn’t ignore that. He raised his hand to flick his sweat at the remaining members. “My name is <em>Scarlemagne</em>. I am your king, and Kipo is your princess. You <em>will </em>treat your royalty with the respect we deserve. Am I understood?”</p><p> </p><p>His <strike>teammates</strike> subjects nodded mutely, unable to do anything more while under his control. Kipo turned towards their frozen forms, cooing at them curiously.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne smiled, rocking his sister gently. She turned back to face him, eyes brightening as she looked at him.</p><p> </p><p>“King Scarlemagne and Princess Kipo. I like the sound of that. Don’t you, Kipo?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Raising a Baby</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Raising a baby, it turned out, was harder than one would think.</p><p> </p><p>According to what Scarlemagne read from his time in the labs, a mammalian baby should be breastfed by their mother. Since Song had so graciously disappeared, Scarlemagne <strike>asked</strike> demanded an orangutan who had just given birth to help.</p><p> </p><p>It didn’t work out. At all.</p><p> </p><p>For starters, Kipo didn’t seem to like the plan much. She didn’t mind being held by Scarlemagne, but if anyone else so much as touched her, she turned from a ray of sunshine into a crying mess.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne didn’t mind it much. However, Sheila—the orangutan—did.</p><p> </p><p>She scowled as another attempt to sooth Kipo failed, “If your precious sister won’t <em>shut up</em>, she can go hungry.” She shook her head, oblivious to Scarlemagne’s growing ire, “Only a <em>human </em>would be so ridiculous. <em>My </em>children aren’t half as annoying as this. I don’t know why I even agreed to this.”</p><p> </p><p><em>How dare she. </em>Scarlemagne glared at her, ready to use his pheromones, but Kipo beat him to it.</p><p> </p><p>At Shelia’s words, Kipo’s wails only grew louder. She raised a hand to smack the orangutan’s face, which wouldn’t normally be a problem, except Kipo used her jaguar hand with <em>very sharp claws. </em>Her claws dragged over Sheila's skin, drawing three thin lines across her face.</p><p> </p><p>Sheila’s face twisted in rage. But before she could do anything, Scarlemagne flung his sweat at her.</p><p> </p><p>“<em>Feed Kipo,” </em>he gritted out. <em>How dare she. She was </em>his <em>subject and she </em>must <em>obey him. </em>Scarlemagne’s irritation was shadowed by a strange feeling at Kipo’s action. He seemed…proud…at Kipo for defending herself…? He had never had that feeling before…not even with <strike>Dad and Mum</strike> Lio and Song.</p><p> </p><p>Fortunately, Kipo quieted down soon enough, almost seeming to recognize she wasn’t in danger of someone who disliked her for being a human anymore. Maybe that was why she didn’t like being handled by their subjects. Scarlemagne was <em>so </em>proud of her—she had such good instincts—but he must be more careful with who he allowed to interact with her from now on.</p><p> </p><p>Once Sheila finished feeding Kipo, Scarlemagne ordered her to leave. He was being merciful, sparing the orangutan. Her injuries wouldn't even scar. It definitely wasn’t because she had children of her own to raise.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne sighed. He had to find another mother to feed Kipo now. Or maybe formula milk would suffice—he didn’t want to stress Kipo out every time she was hungry.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“<em>No</em>, you imbecile! That is <em>not </em>what I asked for!” Scarlemagne scowled at the device one of his subjects was holding. He didn’t remember their name. He had been busy establishing his place among mutekind and designing their aesthetic, so he had ordered his subjects to scavenge for toys for Kipo. The device, with a sleek silver cover and a black screen, was <em>definitely </em>not a child’s toy. “Why would you even think—“</p><p> </p><p>He was interrupted by a loud crash from Kipo’s room. Cursing, he sprang to his feet and burst into the room.</p><p> </p><p>Kipo’s cradle had <em>collapsed</em>. She was sitting in a pile of wooden scraps, hugging <strike>his</strike> <strike>her</strike> their baby blanket. Fur covered everywhere except her neck, seeming to protect her from splinters.</p><p> </p><p>He was going to <em>kill </em>whoever had brought the cradle back. Clearly, he couldn't trust any his subjects on something as important as finding things for Kipo. It was only luck that Kipo didn’t seem to be injured from the cradle’s collapse—that, and maybe the jaguar part of her.</p><p> </p><p>Kipo turned, grinning happily upon seeing his face, but she was soon distracted by the wood pieces next to her.</p><p> </p><p>“Wait—Kipo, <em>no!</em>” Scarlemagne lunged, barely stopping Kipo from stuffing one of the wood pieces into her mouth. Kipo pouted, her lips trembling.                                                                                                                                                                                </p><p>Scarlemagne hurriedly scooped his sister into his arms. “No, Kipo. You can’t put that into your mouth. You’ll hurt yourself.” he explained patiently as he rocked her back and forth.</p><p> </p><p>Kipo sniffled, but she didn’t cry, so Scarlemagne counted that as a win.</p><p> </p><p>She eventually fell asleep in his arms. Scarlemagne smiled at the peaceful expression on her face. Then, the fur on Kipo’s body began to recede. Eventually, even her paw—which she had since the first time Scarlemagne met his sister—became replaced by a human arm.</p><p> </p><p><em>…huh. </em>He didn't know she could do that.</p><p>
  
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne sat on the floor in Kipo’s chambers, smiling in triumph. He would have laughed, but he didn’t want to wake up his baby sister.</p><p> </p><p>He had finally decided on red and blue as the color scheme for him and his court—he had decided to call the primates who served him the nobles of his court—it made his title as King more official. Red and blue were the color of the pigments on his face. They represented the fact that the primates were <em>his </em>nobles, <em>his </em>subjects; they were <em>his </em>and no one else’s.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne smiled, making an order for the Seamstress Spiders to sew him clothes fit for nobles. He made sure to order a red-and-blue onesie made from ultra-soft fabric for Kipo.</p><p> </p><p>“Sir?” One of his <strike>subjects</strike> nobles stood nervously in the entrance to his private chambers, “Gerald found a huge stash of perfume bottles in one of the shops. We…uh…thought you could use them as the containers for your pheromones…since you were looking for containers...”</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne grinned. His day was just getting better and better. “Excellent!”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“Well? Do you like it, Kipo?”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo made a face at the red-and-blue onesie Scarlemagne had ordered. True to their word, the Seamstress Spiders had created Kipo’s onesie with the softest fabric Scarlemagne had ever felt. His order wasn’t cheap—the clothes cost a literal <em>Mega Bunny</em>, but it was totally worth it.</p><p> </p><p>Sadly, Kipo didn’t seem to appreciate the onesie much. Granted, she had never worn anything besides the cloths that functioned as her diaper, so hopefully she would like it more once she became used to clothes.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne sighed as he went to remove the onesie. It was such a pity that the Seamstress Spiders did not accept refunds. Maybe he would give the onesie to one of the nobles who had children…</p><p> </p><p>Kipo sniffled as he pulled the onesie off her, clenching the silky cloth and refusing to let go. Once Scarlemagne returned it to her, Kipo smiled and held it tightly to her chest.</p><p> </p><p>That night, Kipo fell asleep hugging both their baby blanket and her onesie.</p><p> </p><p> Scarlemagne smiled, a warm sensation blooming in his chest. He was glad she liked the onesie.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Raising a baby was hard, indeed. But Kipo was <em>his </em>sister; he loved her, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Kipo NO.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey look, I'm back!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Children, it turned out, were prone to doing inconvenient and inadvisable things. Scarlemagne found that out the hard way.</p><p> </p><p>In the background, Sheila cackled with delight, even though she had absolutely nothing to do with Scarlemagne’s misfortune. After all, the best revenge was revenge that you didn’t have to lift a single finger to bring about.</p><p> </p><p>Fortunately, things had a way of working out.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>After a certain incident that involved an attempted assassination and unsuccessful coup, Scarlemagne no longer trusted anyone other than himself to look after Kipo, which was how he once again ended up sitting on the floor of Kipo’s chamber while dealing with paperwork.</p><p> </p><p>He really should look into installing a desk in Kipo’s room; his back was starting to hurt. </p><p> </p><p>Time passed by in the immeasurably slow way time moved when one was dealing with paperwork. After what felt like eternity but was probably only a few minutes, Scarlemagne looked up from his paperwork, expecting to see Kipo playing with her toys or sleeping.</p><p> </p><p>What he saw instead was Kipo chewing on one of the bars of her cradle—the brand new cradle that had to be commissioned from the Timber Cats because none of the salvaged ones were safe enough to use. The cradle rocked dangerously back and forth as Kipo put her full weight against one side.</p><p> </p><p>Frowning, Scarlemagne moved to save the cradle from his sister’s mouth. “Kipo, don’t do that,” he admonished gently.</p><p> </p><p>Kipo pouted, but then went back to fiddling with a plastic toy.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne grinned and went back to dealing with the never-ending pile of paperwork. His grin faltered. Once again, he wished his nobles were competent enough that he could trust them enough to do the paperwork.</p><p> </p><p>Well, at least one crisis had been averted, even if it meant he was back to dealing with another crisis in the form of wood corpse.</p><p> </p><p>A few minutes later, Scarlemagne glanced up again.</p><p> </p><p>Oh.</p><p> </p><p>Kipo was chewing on the bar again.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne sighed, “Kipo, you really shouldn’t do that. You could hurt yourself.”</p><p> </p><p>He had barely removed her mouth from the cradle and went back to the paperwork when Kipo began sniffing.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne looked up.</p><p> </p><p>His eyes had to be kidding him.</p><p> </p><p>Kipo, sniffling, was chewing on the bar <em>again </em>while giving him puppy eyes.</p><p> </p><p>Someone cleared their throat.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne startled. He turned around to scowl at the noble standing in the entrance of the room—Alita, if his memory served him right.</p><p> </p><p>Alita gave him an amused smile, “Have you ever thought of giving her a teething toy?”</p><p> </p><p>…hmm.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne woke up to ungodly wailing in the middle of the night.</p><p> </p><p>Kipo was crying.</p><p> </p><p>Something was wrong.</p><p> </p><p>He sprang to his feet and raced to Kipo’s room, knocking over furniture and nobles alike in his haste.</p><p> </p><p>One look at Kipo’s room showed no one else in the room. <em>Good. </em>At least it wasn’t assassins this time.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne carefully scooped up the crying baby into his arms. Her diaper-cloth was dry. She didn’t seem to be in pain, but it was hard to tell. Maybe she was hungry?</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne gestured at the nobles gathering in the entrance to prepare the formula milk. The nobles looked at each other and shrugged. They seemed confused.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne scowled, “Why are you still standing here? Go prepare the formula milk!” </p><p> </p><p>At that, Kipo’s wailing intensified.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne rocked her back and forth, “Shh…Kipo…don’t cry…it’ll be okay…it’ll be okay…do you want a toy?”</p><p> </p><p>He grabbed the toy closest to him, which happened to be the teething toy. Kipo took the toy, but instead of chewing it, Kipo’s hand turned into her jaguar form and she threw the toy into Scarlemagne’s face. Forcefully. The toy hit his cheek before ricocheting onto the floor.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne cursed. A noble sniggered. She pushed the feeding bottle into Scarlemagne’s hand and fled before he could yell at her.</p><p> </p><p> Kipo took in a mouthful of milk before spitting it out onto Scarlemagne’s clothes.</p><p> </p><p>…okay. She wasn’t hungry. He could work with that.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne kept rocking Kipo gently. Were her teeth coming in? Did she hurt herself? Were she…</p><p> </p><p>Something soft and smooth shifted under Scarlemagne’s feet. Scarlemagne glanced down.</p><p> </p><p>…oh.</p><p> </p><p>Kipo’s onesie, which she still refused to wear but hugged every time she went to sleep, had fallen onto the floor.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne carefully picked it up and placed it in Kipo’s hands.</p><p> </p><p>Immediately, Kipo’s wailing lessened. Sobs gradually turned into coos as Kipo grabbed the onesie with her surprisingly strong hands.</p><p> </p><p>She grinned at Scarlemagne, looking not at all like the baby who had just thrown a toy so hard his face would probably bruise in the morning.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“Sir, we’ve caught a pair of humans with the pheromones you gave us. They’re in the foyer now.”</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne glanced up from where he and Kipo were sitting on the floor. It had been a few months since he had found Kipo and became king, and his hard work was finally paying off. He grinned maniacally as he stood up.</p><p> </p><p>Something caught onto the ends of his pants, rooting him in place. Scarlemagne glanced down. Kipo stared back at him. Her hands were in jaguar form, and she had sunk her claws into the fabric of his suit. Her eyes were big and watery    </p><p> </p><p>“Kipo,” Scarlemagne squatted down to his sister’s level, “I just have to do something real quick. I’ll be back soon, okay?”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo’s lips trembled. She disentangled her claws from Scarlemagne’s clothes before crawling over and hugging his leg. Scarlemagne smiled and patted her head, “Good girl.  I’ll be back before you know it, okay?”</p><p> </p><p>Out in the foyer, Scarlemagne looked over the humans, who were struggling against their bonds. Apparently, the pheromones had already worn off, and the nobles didn’t have any left in their perfume bottles.</p><p> </p><p>Both the humans and his nobles were bruised and battered from their journey. Scarlemagne silently added giving the nobles more pheromones and finding some sort of mount or vehicles for travelling around onto his to-do list. Perhaps something like the Mod Frogs’ mega dragonflies?</p><p> </p><p>“—please, our daughter is just one year old. She’ll <em>die </em>if we don’t go back.”</p><p> </p><p>Right, the humans were talking. “Really? Where is she?”</p><p> </p><p>The woman snarled, “Like I’ll tell you! You’ll just find her and kill her after—“ She stopped and nudged her partner, who had been staring dejectedly at the floor. The two of them stared behind Scarlemagne with their mouths open.</p><p> </p><p>…what…? Scarlemagne turned around to find…nothing. Then, the sound of giggling reached his ears. Scarlemagne looked down to find Kipo hugging his leg as the woman yelled, “Stay away from the baby!”</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne gave the woman an unimpressed glare as he picked up Kipo. Kipo cooed and patted his cheeks with her entirely human hands—she must’ve reverted back to human form at some point.</p><p> </p><p>“Shouldn’t you be in your room?” He scolded quietly, ignoring the woman’s cries of <em>don’t you dare hurt the baby</em>, “I thought I told you to stay put. This is a serious meeting; you really shouldn’t be here.”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo giggled again, pulling at his fur. The humans gaped when Scarlemagne did nothing to stop her.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne sighed; all plans at intimidation had long since flown out of the window. “As you can see, we are perfectly capable of taking care of children. If we find your daughter, she can be a playmate for Kipo while you serve us.” He ignored the woman’s indignant shout. “Let’s be honest here—you have two options: either tell us where you hid your daughter is so that we can bring her here, or don’t tell us and let your daughter starve to death.” He bared his teeth at the pair, “Your choice.”</p><p> </p><p>And that was the story of how Kipo gained a new playmate.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>After that, Scarlemagne began bringing Kipo to his meetings.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>“…’arlamagne…wanna go!” Kipo blurted as Scarlemagne entered the room.</p><p> </p><p>“Do you want to go outside today, Kipo?”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo beamed. Scarlemagne took that as a ‘yes’.</p><p> </p><p>The palace had a garden. It was a fact Scarlemagne only discovered a month into being king. It was large and overgrown, blending into the surrounding forest with ease. Some days, Scarlemagne was surprised he had found it at all.</p><p> </p><p>With a lot of hard work and patience—not from him, from the gardeners—the garden had been restored to its former glory. And it was slowly becoming one of Kipo’s favorite places to hang out, if how much she begged to go there was any indication.</p><p> </p><p>“It’s been a year and a half since I first met you, Kipo,” Scarlemagne muttered as he put her on the ground. Kipo gave him a confused look before toddling away to a nearby bush. She plucked a bright pink flower and handed it to Scarlemagne.</p><p> </p><p>“Thank you,” Scarlemagne smiled. He tucked it behind Kipo’s ear. “You look very pretty, Kipo.”</p><p> </p><p>“…Ana…?” Kipo asked, referencing her playmate and future handmaiden.</p><p> </p><p>“Ana is taking a nap. You can play with her after she wakes up.”</p><p> </p><p>“…mm…’kay…” Kipo strode away and continued to explore the garden.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, Kipo tensed. In a blink, fur sprouted all over her skin. Her legs and ears turned into jaguar form and she sprouted a tail. She lunged; and—</p><p> </p><p>Wait. Was that a bird?</p><p> </p><p>Kipo turned to Scarlemagne, grinning. Her canines, sharp and <em>red, </em>were on full display. Warm blood trickled down her chin. Her tail was trembling with excitement. But most importantly, she held a dead bird proudly in her mouth.</p><p> </p><p>“Kipo. Spit that out. Now.”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo made a noise that sounded suspiciously like the word ‘fun’.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne snarled, “Kipo. I’m serious. Spit it out.”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo, while maintaining eye contact with him, bit down on the bird hard. There was a loud crunch.</p><p> </p><p>Then, Kipo swallowed the bird. Whole.</p><p> </p><p>Her legendary act and Scarlemagne’s panicked shouting became the nobles’ prime gossiping material for an entire month.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne cackled, placing the larger and improved perfume bottles back onto the table after examining every one of them and finding no flaw. Apparently, Alita had found a large stash on her patrol that could replace the current smaller bottles, which wasn’t surprising—she was the only noble he maybe-trusted to be competent. “Perfect! Now I only need to—“</p><p> </p><p>There was a loud crash.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne looked down. In his arms, Kipo gave him a wide-eyed, innocent glance. Her arm, in jaguar form, was stretched over the table—the <em>now-empty </em>table.</p><p> </p><p>The freshly scavenged bottles lay in a broken pile on the floor.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne sighed. It was a deep, weary sigh of the exhausted.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>The sound of crying reached his ears. It was coming from Kipo’s room.</p><p> </p><p>Cursing, Scarlemagne abandoned his conversation with the leader of the Mod Frogs—he had forgotten her name—and raced to the room.</p><p> </p><p>He shouldn’t have left Kipo and Ana alone.</p><p> </p><p>Ana, with her clothes torn and bloody as well as three deep streaks of red on her arm, was wailing. Kipo was in jaguar form. As Scarlemagne came to a stop in front of them, he noticed Kipo’s claws were tipped with red.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne flung a few drops of sweat onto Ana, quieting her down immediately. He examined her arm before yelling at the nearest noble to get a first-aid kit.   </p><p> </p><p>As the nobles treated Ana, Scarlemagne sat down in front of Kipo, who was pouting and glaring at the ceiling. “Kipo, what happened here?”</p><p> </p><p>“She stealed my toy.” Kipo made a deep growling sound in her throat. “She deserved it.”</p><p> </p><p>“Kipo,” Scarlemagne thought back to when <strike>Emilia</strike> She took away his freedom, his happiness, his everything. “You protected what is yours. Well done.”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo blinked, “Wait. Really?”</p><p> </p><p>“<em>But</em>, if you want to keep playing with Ana, you can’t do that again. She’s only human; she isn’t as strong as you. That is going to scar, you know.”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo blanched. She stared guiltily at the floor. “I hate her,” she said unconvincingly.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne nodded, “Okay. Then I can take her away, but you won’t have anyone to play with.”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo looked up, eyes wide with panic, “No! I…I don’t want her to go.”</p><p> </p><p> “Then next time Ana does something you don’t like, you can’t hurt her with your claws.” He looked at Kipo’s hopeful grin as she showed off her canines. “…or your teeth. You can only use words. Or call me, okay?”</p><p> </p><p> Kipo pouted, “…’kay…”</p><p> </p><p>All things considered, Scarlemagne thought he handled the situation pretty well.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Kipo was missing. </p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne growled. He didn’t know it was a sound a mandrill could make. He had put her in the crib and gone out of her room to deal with his subjects for one minute, and by the time he returned, she was <em>missing</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Whoever took Kipo would <em>pay</em>.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne tried not to think of the assassins from three years ago. They had arrived under the cover of night and snuck into Kipo’s chambers too. What if assassins had taken Kipo again? What if he was too late? What if Kipo was <em>dead</em>?</p><p> </p><p>He couldn’t deal with another person leaving him.</p><p> </p><p>“Uhh...sir...? Scarlemagne...?” </p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne spun around. It was one of the nobles. If he was disturbing Scarlemagne with something trivial, he would regret it. “What is it?”</p><p> </p><p>“I found Kipo.”</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne narrowed his eyes. “Where?”</p><p> </p><p>“She’s outside, sir. She seems to be chasing a...pig?”</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>“What.”</em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne slammed the door to the garden open. Just as the noble said, Kipo was chasing a pig around the garden. Their silhouettes were barely illuminated by the moon and the light from the door.</p><p> </p><p>The pig squealed in alarm at them and ducked under a bush. Kipo giggled, turning to them. She was in jaguar form, with her tail raised and wagging. Her eyes glowed bright pink in the night.</p><p> </p><p>“‘arlemagne!” Kipo beamed, entirely unharmed.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne breathed a sigh of relief. He collapsed in front of Kipo, hugging her, “Kipo. You’re okay. Why are you here? How did you sneak out of the crib? You’re supposed to be in bed, you know.”</p><p> </p><p>Kipo giggled. “I finded a Piggy!”</p><p> </p><p>“You found...Piggy...?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yep!” The pig darted out from its hiding place. Disentangling herself from Scarlemagne’s arms, Kipo lunged onto it with unnatural speed. She held out her prize, grinning, “See? Piggy! Say hi, Piggy!”</p><p> </p><p>The piglet squealed. It was tiny—around the size of Scarlemagne’s palms put together—and entirely blue. Its four eyes darted around the garden, seeking escape. Scarlemagne smiled, “Hello, Piggy. Kipo, you can play with your new friend tomorrow, it’s time for bed now.”</p><p> </p><p>“’Kay!” Kipo nodded, “Can I keep it?”</p><p> </p><p>“Only if you promise to take care of it.”</p><p> </p><p>And that was the story of how Kipo caught a pet at three years old, as well as the tale of how Scarlemagne discovered human-child-proof cribs were not the same as part-mute-human-child-proof cribs.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, the Timber Cats did not offer refunds.</p><p> </p><p>Scarlemagne could only hope Kipo would grow out of trouble-making as she got older.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Bored of endless domestic fluff yet? Next chapter things finally start happening!</p><p>In case you're wondering who Sheila is, she's the breastfeeding mother from last chapter. And Scarlemagne refers to the baby blanket as 'theirs' because it belongs to both him and Kipo.</p><p>Also, adding Mandu was entirely unplanned. Now I gotta add her to the character tags.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any thoughts? Please Tell Me.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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